The present invention relates to a new and improved counter operating systems having notable utility in register and register drive unit assemblies of the type employed in fuel dispensing apparatus for registering the volume and cost amounts of fuel delivered and, for example, utility in the factory modification and/or field or factory conversion of existing fuel pump/register and register drive unit assemblies of the type having a register generally as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,814,444 of Harvey N. Bliss dated Nov. 26, 1957 and entitled "Register."
The conventional mechanical fuel pump register of the type shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,814,444 has upper and lower resettable cost and volume counters on each of two opposite sides of the register for registering the cost and volume amounts of the fuel delivered. The register is conventionally employed in an assembly with a mechanical variator (for example, of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,314,867 of Richard B. Hamlin dated Dec. 3, 1968 and entitled "Variator") operable for establishing and posting the desired unit volume price of fuel. The usual variator is connected for being driven by a fuel meter and for driving the volume and cost counters of the register for registering the volume amount of fuel delivered (e.g., in gallons) and the cost amount of fuel delivered in accordance with the volume amount of fuel delivered and the established unit volume price.
The mechanical cost counter drive train is rotated at a rate proportional to the established unit volume price and the volumetric rate of delivery and, therefore, for any given maximum volumetric rate of delivery, its maximum rate of rotation increases proportionally with the unit volume price of gasoline. Since the price of gasoline is escalating and is likely to continue to escalate, the cost counter drive train is and will continue to be rotated at correspondingly increasing rates. The resulting higher rotational speed decreases the life and increases the operating noise of the mechanical cost counter and its drive train. The higher rotational speed also increases the required drive torque of the meter conventionally transmitted through the variator to the cost counters and therefore decreases the useful life of the mechanical system and the accuracy of the meter.
It is therefore a principal aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved counter operating system for a conventional fuel pump register for converting and/or modifying the usual register operating system for increasing the useful life of the register and the reliability of its associated meter.
It is another aim of the present invention to provide new and improved register drive system conversion means which permits conversion of the mechanical drive systems of existing mechanical registers with minimum inconvenience and downtime.
It is another aim of the present invention to provide a modified fuel pump register drive system which substantially reduces the drive torque required for operating the cost counters and thereby substantially increases the operating life of the cost counters and the meter associated with the fuel pump register.
It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved gasoline pump register operating system having an improved resettable cost counter.
It is another aim of the present invention to provide new and improved register operating system means useful in modifying the cost and/or volume counter drive system of conventional fuel pumps.
It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved fuel pump register and register drive unit assembly which is substantially the same size as existing fuel pump register and register drive unit assemblies and such that the improved assembly can be readily substituted for an existing assembly and without further modification of the fuel pump.
It is another aim of the present invention to provide in a counter system of the type employing a bank of a plurality of coaxial counter wheels a new and improved wheel indexing system for indexing the bank of counter wheels.
It is a still further aim of the present invention to provide in a counter system of the type having an electrical pulse generator adapted to be driven for generating a pulse train with a pulse for each predetermined drive increment and a bank of a plurality of coaxial counter wheels of increasing order for displaying an accumulated count in accordance with the number of generated pulses, a new and improved counter wheel indexing system operable by the train of electrical pulses for indexing the bank of counter wheels for displaying an accumulated count in accordance with the number of generated pulses.
It is a further aim of the present invention to provide new and improved means for modifying the conventional fuel pump register operating system for expanding its unit volume price range. In accordance with the present invention, the unit volume price of the conventional fuel pump can be extended beyond the conventional maximum $0.99-9/10 unit volume price without requiring additional drive torque from the associated fuel meter and without diminishing the operational life of the cost counter wheels of the fuel pump register.
It is another aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved register operating system for a conventional fuel pump register for converting and/or modifying the register operating system for extending the available price range from the conventional price range of $0.000 to $0.999 per gallon to an expanded price range of $0.000 to $9.999 per gallon.
It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved cost counting system for a conventional fuel pump register which employs conventional cost counter wheels mechanically resettable in a conventional manner and which employs a new and improved cost counter wheel drive system which provides for substantially reducing the required cost counter drive torque and increasing the useful life of the cost counter wheels and their drive train.
It is another aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved counter indexing system for a resettable fuel pump register for automatically removing any initial counter readout error which occurs when the register is reset.
It is a further aim of the present inventin to provide a new and improved counting system for a conventional fuel pump register useful in fuel pump installations, such as self-service installations, having a remote readout of the amount of fuel delivered, and which provides a remote readout which correctly corresponds to the register readout at the fuel delivery pump.
It is a further aim of the present invention to provide in a counting system of the type having a bank of a plurality of coaxial counter wheels of increasing order of significance, a new and improved wheel indexing system for indexing the bank of counter wheels for registering a count. Also, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the wheel indexing system provides a one-hundred increment lowest order wheel, for example, for registering a count from 0 to 99, and a new and improved indexing system for indexing the second order counter wheel therewith in a manner avoiding any readout ambiguity during count transfers from the lowest to the second order counter wheels.
It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved cost counter operating system for a conventional fuel pump register for converting and/or modifying the register to eliminate the usual mechanical variator.
It is another aim of the present invention to provide in a fuel pump register cost counter operating system, a new and improved hybrid association of mechanical and electrical components for substantially extending the useful life of the register, reducing the required drive torque of the associated fuel pump meter and extending the available unit volume price range of the fuel pump.
It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a new and improved cost counter operating system for a conventional fuel pump register useful in the modification and/or conversion of multiple grade fuel pumps, such as blending pumps, operable for selectively dispensing each of a plurality of different fuel grades or products.
Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.
A better understanding of the invention will be obtained from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings of illustrative applications of the invention.